In North Carolina, tech giants and other large corporations that want their own 24/7 carbon-free electricity have a problem. Across most of the state, only Duke Energy, the state’s vertically integrated utility, can sell them power, and the company’s grid isn’t required to be 100% clean until mid-century. For the…

As the mayor of tiny Enfield, North Carolina, Mondale Robinson has huge clean energy ambitions . Among them: building a solar farm to power the entire town of about 2,000, replacing the town’s decrepit substation to distribute those renewable electrons, and building a thermal energy network to provide heating and…

For well over a year, the twin problems of rising utility bills and soaring electric demand spurred by the AI boom have consumed the energy policy debate in Virginia, the data center capital of the world. Clean energy foes — mostly Republicans — say the state’s landmark zero-carbon mandate should be scaled back or…

Two years ago this week, Hurricane Helene’s floods nearly wiped out the little downtown of Marshall, North Carolina, about 20 miles north of Asheville. Situated along the French Broad River, an art gallery, coffee shop, restaurant, and other beloved community spaces were left without water or electricity —…

North Carolina regulators on Friday rejected a bid from Duke Energy to build a gas power plant — a rare denial from a panel that frequently defers to the state’s predominant utility. Duke first proposed the 255-megawatt facility in Richmond County last fall. Designed to produce electricity when the grid is strained,…